Draft:List of Short Sayings of Nahj al-Balagha

The List of Short Sayings of Nahj al-Balagha refers to the collection of aphorisms attributed to Amir al-Mu'minin (a) within Nahj al-Balagha, compiled by the Shia scholar and literary figure Al-Sharif al-Radi (359/970–406/1015). Located in the third section of the book, this compilation comprises 480 aphorisms.^[1] This section encompasses words of wisdom, admonitions, and succinct responses to inquiries posed to Amir al-Mu'minin (a).^[2] Within this compilation, Al-Sharif al-Radi includes a specific chapter titled "Fasl fi ghara'ib kalamih" (Chapter on His Rare/Complex Sayings), which he notes requires interpretation.^[3] This chapter contains nine hadiths, the first of which concerns the appearance of Imam al-Zaman (a).^[4]

Sayings

During civil strife, be as an adolescent camel, which has neither a back strong enough for riding nor udders for milking. (Live in such a manner that none may covet to exploit you).
He who adopts greed as a habit devalues himself; he who discloses his hardship agrees to humiliation; and he who allows his tongue to overpower his soul debases that soul.
Miserliness is a disgrace; cowardice is a defect; poverty renders an intelligent man unable to argue his case; and a destitute person is a stranger in his own hometown.
Incapacity is a defect; patience is courage; abstinence (from the world) is wealth; piety is a shield (protector); and satisfaction is the finest companion.
Knowledge is a noble heritage; manners are fresh ornaments (for the soul and body); and thought is a clear mirror.
The chest of the wise is the repository of his secrets; cheerfulness is the snare of affection; and forbearance is the burial ground of faults. [Or he said:] Reconciliation is the covering of flaws; and he who is satisfied with himself will find many dissatisfied with him.
Charity is an effective cure, and the actions of servants in their present life will be present before their eyes in the hereafter. (Whatever they do in this world, they will encounter in the next).
Marvel at the human being: he sees with a layer of fat, speaks with a piece of flesh, hears with a bone, and breathes through a hole.^[5]
When the world favors a person, it lends him the attributes of others; but when it turns against him, it strips him of his own merits.
Live among people in such a manner that, should you die, they weep for you, and should you remain alive, they crave your company.
If you gain power over your enemy, let forgiveness be your expression of gratitude for that power.
The most helpless of men is he who cannot acquire a few friends; but more helpless is he who gains them and subsequently loses them.
When the signs of blessings reach you, do not drive away the remainder of them through ingratitude.
He who is abandoned by near ones is befriended by distant ones.
Not every tempted one is to be blamed.
Affairs submit to destiny to such an extent that death may result from the very effort of self-preservation.
[He was asked regarding the saying of the Prophet (s): "Change your grey hair with dye and do not imitate the Jews." He replied:] He said that when the number of the followers of the religion was small. Now that the domain of Islam has expanded and its call has spread universally, every person is free to do as he chooses.
[Regarding those who withdrew from battle on his side, he stated:] They forsook the right and did not assist the wrong.
Whoever runs with his desires, death causes him to stumble.
Overlook the slips of generous people, for whenever one of them stumbles, God takes him by the hand.
Fear is coupled with disappointment, and bashfulness is coupled with deprivation. Opportunity passes like the clouds, so seize good opportunities.
We possess a right; should it be granted to us, we shall take it; otherwise, we shall ride upon the hindquarters of the camel (like slaves), even if the nocturnal journey is prolonged.^[6]
He whose deeds retard his progress, his lineage will not push him forward.
To render relief to the grief-stricken and to provide comfort in trouble are among the means of expiation for major sins.
O son of Adam! When you observe that your Lord sends His favors to you successively while you are disobeying Him, then fear Him.
No one conceals a thing in his heart but that it appears in the slips of his tongue and the expressions of his face.
Walk with your illness as long as it walks with you (endure it as long as you are able).
The best asceticism is to conceal one's asceticism.
If you turn your back on life while death turns its face toward you, then how imminent is the meeting.
Caution! Caution! For by God, He has covered (sins) to such an extent that it is as if He has forgiven.
[He was asked about Faith, so he said:] Faith rests upon four pillars: Patience (Sabr), Certainty (Yaqin), Justice ('Adl), and Jihad. Patience has four branches: eagerness, fear, asceticism (Zuhd), and anticipation (of death). Thus, he who is eager for Paradise abstains from lusts; he who fears the Fire refrains from forbidden acts; he who practices asceticism in the world makes hardships easy for himself; and he who anticipates death hastens towards good deeds. Certainty has four branches: prudent vision, intelligent interpretation, admonition from events, and following the path of the ancients. Thus, he who sees prudently, wisdom becomes manifest to him; he to whom wisdom becomes manifest learns the lesson; and he who learns the lesson, it is as if he lived with the ancients. Justice has four branches: depth of understanding, the anchor of knowledge, the beauty of judgment, and firm forbearance. Thus, he who understands attains the depth of knowledge; he who attains the depth of knowledge drinks from the source of Sharia; and he who is forbearing does not commit excess and lives among the people with a good reputation. Jihad has four branches: enjoining the good, forbidding the evil, truthfulness in battle, and detesting the vicious. Thus, he who enjoins the good strengthens the backs of the believers; he who forbids the evil rubs the nose of the hypocrites in the dust; he who is truthful in battle discharges the duty incumbent upon him; and he who detests the vicious and becomes angry for the sake of God, God will be angry for his sake and will please him on the Day of Resurrection. Disbelief stands on four pillars: hankering after whims, quarreling, deviation from the truth, and dissension. Thus, he who hankers after whims does not incline towards the truth; he who quarrels excessively due to ignorance becomes blind to the truth; he who deviates from the truth sees good as evil and evil as good and becomes intoxicated with misguidance; and he who creates dissension, the paths become difficult for him, his affairs become arduous, and his way out becomes narrow. Doubt has four branches: disputation, fear, vacillation, and submission (to events). Thus, he who makes disputation a habit does not emerge from the darkness of confusion; he who fears everything before him constantly retreats; he who vacillates, Satan tramples him underfoot; and he who submits to the destruction of the world and the hereafter ruins both worlds.
The doer of good is better than the good deed itself, and the doer of evil is worse than the evil deed itself.
Be generous but not wasteful; be thrifty but not stringent.
The noblest wealth is the abandonment of desires.
Whoever speaks to people regarding what they dislike without restraint, they will say about him what they do not know.
He who prolongs hope spoils his deeds.
[When the landlords of Anbar saw him on his way to Sham, they dismounted for him and ran before him. He asked:] What is this that you have done? [They replied: It is a custom we have to honor our rulers. He stated:] By God, your rulers derive no benefit from this, and you toil yourselves in your world by it and become miserable in your hereafter. How harmful is the toil that is followed by punishment, and how profitable is the ease with which there is safety from the Fire.
[He said to his son al-Hasan (a):] My son, learn four things from me and four others, which if you practice, you will suffer no harm from your deeds: The richest wealth is wisdom; the greatest poverty is foolishness; the most fearful loneliness is self-conceit; and the noblest descent is good character. My son, beware of befriending a fool, for he intends to benefit you but will harm you; beware of befriending a miser, for he will withhold from you what you need most; beware of befriending a vicious person, for he will sell you for a trifle; and beware of befriending a liar, for he is like a mirage: he makes the distant seem near to you and the near seem distant.
If supererogatory acts harm obligatory acts, they will not bring the servant near to God.
The tongue of the wise lies behind his heart, and the heart of the fool lies behind his tongue.^[7]
[This meaning has been narrated from him in other words:] The heart of the fool is in his mouth, and the tongue of the wise is in his heart.
[He said to one of his companions when he complained of pain:] May God make what you complain of a means of reducing your sins, for there is no reward in sickness, but it reduces sins and sheds them like the shedding of leaves from trees. Reward lies in speech with the tongue and action with hands and feet. And God Almighty admits whomever He wills of His servants into Paradise because of truthful intention and a pure heart.^[8]
[When he remembered Khabbab, he said:] May God have mercy on Khabbab b. Aratt. He embraced Islam willingly, migrated obediently, was content with subsistence, was pleased with God, and lived as a Mujahid.
Blessed is he who remembers the Resurrection, works for the Reckoning, is content with subsistence, and is pleased with God.
If I were to strike the nose of a believer with this sword of mine so that he hates me, he would not hate me; and if I were to pour the whole world upon a hypocrite so that he loves me, he would not love me. This is because the decree has been passed and issued on the tongue of the Unlettered Prophet who said: "O Ali, a believer will not hate you, and a hypocrite will not love you."
A sin that grieves you is better in the sight of God than a good deed that makes you arrogant.
The value of a man is commensurate with his ambition; his truthfulness is commensurate with his chivalry; his courage is commensurate with his sense of shame (refusal of disgrace); and his chastity is commensurate with his honor.
Victory comes with foresight; foresight comes with employing opinion; and employing opinion comes with keeping secrets.
Beware of the assault of the noble when he is hungry, and of the ignoble when he is full.
The hearts of men are wild; whoever tames them, they turn to him.
Your fault remains hidden as long as your luck is shining.
The most deserving of people to forgive is the most powerful of them to punish.
Generosity is giving without being asked; what is given after being asked is either out of shame or fear of ill-repute.
There is no wealth like wisdom, no poverty like ignorance, no heritage like culture, and no support like consultation.
Patience is of two kinds: patience over what you dislike, and patience against what you desire.
Wealth in a foreign land is like staying at home, and poverty at home is like living in a foreign land.
Contentment (Qana'a) is a wealth that does not cease.
Wealth is the substance of lusts.
He who warns you is like one who gives you good tidings.
The tongue is a beast; if let loose, it bites.
Woman is a scorpion whose sting is sweet.
When you are greeted with a greeting, greet with a better one; and when a favor is done to you, repay it with a greater one; yet the merit belongs to the initiator.
The intercessor is the wing of the seeker.^[9]
People of the world are like travelers who are being carried while asleep.
Losing friends is exile.
Not having a need fulfilled is easier than asking it from the unworthy.
Do not be ashamed of giving a little, for depriving is even less than that.
Chastity is the ornament of poverty, and gratitude is the ornament of wealth.
If what you wish does not happen, then do not worry about what you are.
You will not see an ignorant person but doing too much or too little.
When wisdom becomes perfect, speech decreases.
Time wears out bodies, renews hopes, brings death near, and makes aspirations distant. Whoever attains it suffers, and whoever loses it undergoes hardship.
He who appoints himself a leader of the people should start by teaching himself before teaching others; his teaching should be by his conduct before his speech. He who teaches and disciplines himself is more deserving of honor than he who teaches and disciplines others.
With every breath a man takes, he takes a step towards death.
Everything that can be counted will pass, and everything that is expected will arrive.
When affairs become similar, the end is known by measuring one against the other (judging the end by the beginning).
[It is narrated in the report of Dirar b. Damra al-Dababi that when he entered upon Mu'awiya and Mu'awiya asked him about Amir al-Mu'minin (a), he said: I testify that I saw him in a state when night had let down its curtains, standing in his Mihrab, holding his beard, twisting like a snake-bitten person and weeping like a grief-stricken man, saying:] O world! O world! Get away from me! Do you present yourself to me? Or are you eager for me? Never may you find a place in my heart! Deceive someone else! I have no need of you. I have divorced you three times, irrevocably. Your life is short, your importance is slight, and your hope is base. Ah! For the lack of provision, the long journey, the distant destination, and the difficulty of the arrival.
[When someone asked him: "Was our going to Sham by the decree and destiny of God?" After a long speech, the gist of which is:] Woe to you! Perhaps you thought it was a binding decree and an inevitable destiny? If it were so, reward and punishment would be void, and promise and threat would be null. The Glorified God ordered His servants giving them choice, and forbade them warning them. He imposed easy duties, not difficult ones, and gives much reward for little action. He is not disobeyed because He is overpowered, nor is He obeyed by compulsion. He did not send the prophets in jest, nor did He send down the Book to the servants in vain, nor did He create the heavens and the earth and what is between them aimlessly. "That is the assumption of those who disbelieve. So woe to those who disbelieve from the Fire." (Quran 38:27)
Take wisdom wherever it may be, for wisdom may be in the breast of a hypocrite and it flutters in his breast until it comes out and settles with its likes in the breast of a believer.
Wisdom is the lost property of the believer; take wisdom even if it is from hypocrites.
The value of a man is what he does well.^[10]
I advise you of five things which if you ride your camels fast to seek them, they are worth it: No one of you should hope in anything but his Lord; no one should fear anything but his sin; no one should be ashamed to say "I do not know" when asked about something he does not know; no one should be ashamed to learn what he does not know; and practice patience, for patience is to faith what the head is to the body; there is no good in a body without a head, nor in faith without patience.
[To a man who praised him excessively while harboring insincerity in his heart, he said:] I am less than what you say and more than what you hide in your heart.
The remnants of the sword (those who survive battles) last longer and have more offspring.^[11]
Whoever abandons saying "I do not know" meets his destruction.
I love the opinion of an old man more than the determination of a youth. [And in another narration:] more than the presence of a youth (in battle).
I wonder at him who despairs while he has (the tool of) seeking forgiveness.
Abu Ja'far Muhammad b. 'Ali al-Baqir narrated from him (a) that he said:] There were two sources of security from God's punishment on earth; one has been raised up, so hold fast to the other. The security that was raised up was the Messenger of God (s). And the security that remains is seeking forgiveness. God Almighty says: "But Allah would not punish them while you, [O Muhammad], are among them, and Allah would not punish them while they seek forgiveness." (Quran 8:33)
Whoever corrects what is between himself and God, God will correct what is between him and the people; whoever corrects his affair for the Hereafter, God will correct his worldly affair; and whoever has a preacher from within himself, there is a protector for him from God.
The perfect Faqih (jurist) is he who does not make people despair of God's mercy, does not make them hopeless of His kindness, and does not make them feel safe from His sudden punishment.
These hearts get weary just as bodies get weary; so seek for them beautiful sayings of wisdom.
The lowest knowledge is what appears on the tongue, and the highest is what is manifested in the limbs and organs.
None of you should say: "O God, I seek refuge in You from Fitna (trial/sedition)!" For there is no one who is not involved in a trial. But he who seeks refuge should seek refuge from misleading trials, for God Almighty says: "And know that your properties and your children are but a trial." The meaning of this is that God tests them with properties and children to reveal who is displeased with His provision and who is pleased. Although God knows them better than they know themselves, (He tests them) so that actions which deserve reward or punishment may appear; for some love male children and dislike female ones, and some like increase in wealth and dislike its decrease.
[He was asked about "Good" (Khayr), he said:] Good is not that your wealth and children increase, but good is that your knowledge increases, your forbearance becomes great, and you vie with people in the worship of your Lord. If you do good, you praise God, and if you sin, you seek forgiveness from Him. There is no good in the world except for two persons: a man who committed sins and rectifies them with repentance, and a man who hastens towards good deeds.
No deed is small with piety; and how can that be small which is accepted?
The closest of people to the prophets are the most knowledgeable of them in what they brought. [Then he recited:] "Indeed, the most worthy of Abraham among the people are those who followed him [in submission to Allah] and this prophet, and those who believe." [Then he said:] The friend of Muhammad (s) is he who obeys God even if his lineage is far from him, and the enemy of Muhammad (s) is he who disobeys God even if he is a close relative.
[He heard a man from the Khawarij praying the night prayer and reciting the Quran, so he said:] Sleeping with certainty is better than praying with doubt.
[He said:] When you hear a Hadith, understand it with the understanding of observance, not the understanding of narration, for the narrators of knowledge are many but those who observe it are few.
[He heard a man saying "Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un", so he said:] Our saying "We belong to God" is an admission of our servitude to Him, and our saying "To Him we shall return" is an admission of our perishing.
[Some people praised him to his face, so he said:] O God, You know me better than I know myself, and I know myself better than they know me. O God, make us better than what they think, and forgive us what they do not know.
The fulfillment of needs does not succeed except with three things: regarding it small so it becomes great, concealing it so it becomes manifest, and hastening it so it becomes pleasant.
A time will come upon people when nothing will be valued except the slanderer, nothing will be considered witty except the vicious, and nothing will be considered weak except the just. In that time, they will consider charity as a fine, keeping ties with kin as a favor, and worship as a means of showing off to people. At that time, governance will be with the counsel of women, the rule of children, and the management of eunuchs.
[He was seen wearing a worn-out, patched garment. When asked about it, he said:] It humbles the heart, tames the self, and the believers emulate it. Indeed, the world and the hereafter are two incompatible enemies and two divergent paths. Whoever loves the world and befriends it, hates the hereafter and takes it as an enemy. They are like the East and the West; the walker between them, whenever he gets close to one, gets farther from the other. They are like two fellow-wives.
[It is narrated from Nuf al-Bikali that: I saw Amir al-Mu'minin (a) one night coming out from his bed, looking at the stars, and he said: O Nuf, are you asleep or awake? I said: I am awake. He said:] O Nuf! Blessed are the ascetics in this world who are eager for the hereafter. They are people who have taken the earth as a carpet, its dust as a bed, and its water as perfume. They recite the Quran inwardly and make supplication their watchword. They have cut themselves off from the world like the Messiah. O Nuf! Dawud (a) went out at such an hour of the night and said: This is an hour when no servant calls upon God but he is answered, except one who is a tax collector, or a reporter (spy) for the ruler, or a police officer, or a lute player, or a drummer.
Indeed, God has imposed obligations upon you, so do not neglect them; He has set limits for you, so do not transgress them; He has forbidden you from things, so do not violate them; and He has remained silent about things not out of forgetfulness, so do not burden yourselves with them.
People do not abandon a matter of their religion for the rectification of their world but that God opens upon them something more harmful than it.
Many a learned man is ruined by his ignorance while his knowledge is with him but does not benefit him.
In the veins of this human being, there is a piece of flesh hanging which is the most wonderful thing in him, and that is the heart. It has motives of wisdom and their contraries. If hope arises in it, greed humiliates it; if greed excites it, avidity destroys it; if despair possesses it, grief kills it; if anger seizes it, rage intensifies it; if it is blessed with contentment, it forgets preservation; if fear surprises it, caution occupies it; if safety extends to it, negligence seizes it; if it acquires wealth, affluence makes it tyrannical; if a calamity befalls it, impatience disgraces it; if it is stricken by poverty, distress engages it; if hunger attacks it, weakness makes it sit down; and if eating fills it, fullness pains it. So every deficiency is harmful to it, and every excess is corrupting.
We are the middle cushion (position). The one who lags behind joins us, and the one who goes to excess returns to us.
No one establishes the command of God except he who does not compromise, does not behave like the weary, and does not follow ambitions.
[When Sahl b. Hunayf al-Ansari died in Kufa after returning from Siffin, and the Imam loved him greatly, he said:] If a mountain loved me, it would crumble. [Yaddasht-i Sayyid Radi: "Wa ma'nahu anna al-mihan..."]
Whoever loves us Ahl al-Bayt, let him prepare himself for poverty as a garment.
No wealth is more profitable than wisdom; no loneliness is more frightening than vanity; no wisdom is like planning; no nobility is like piety; no companion is like good character; no heritage is like culture; no guide is like Success (from God); no trade is like good deeds; no profit is like Divine Reward; no abstinence is like stopping at doubts; no asceticism is like abstaining from the unlawful; no knowledge is like reflection; no worship is like the performance of obligations; no faith is like modesty and patience; no lineage is like humility; no honor is like knowledge; no glory is like forbearance; and no support is stronger than consultation.
When righteousness prevails over the time and its people, if a person thinks ill of another against whom no scandal has surfaced, he has oppressed him. And if corruption prevails over the time and its people, if a person thinks well of another, he has deceived himself.
[He was asked: How are you, O Amir al-Mu'minin? He said:] How is he who passes away while staying, is sick while healthy, and receives death from where he is safe.
Many a person is gradually lured by favors done to him; many a person is deceived by the concealment of his sins; and many a person is deluded by being praised. God has not tested anyone with anything like the respite He gives him.
Two types of people are ruined concerning me: the admirer who goes to extremes, and the hater who bears malice.
Losing opportunity is a choking grief.
The world is like a snake: its touch is soft, but its inside is deadly poison. The ignorant, deceived one moves towards it, and the wise, intelligent one keeps away from it.
[He was asked about Quraysh, so he said:] As for the Banu Makhzum, they are the sweet basil of Quraysh; we love talking to their men and marrying their women. As for the Banu 'Abd Shams, they are more prudent in opinion and more protective of wealth and children. But we (Banu Hashim) are the most generous with what is in our hands and the most chivalrous in sacrificing lives at death. They are more numerous and more deceptive and ugly in deed, while we are more eloquent, more well-wishing, and more handsome.
How dissimilar are two actions: an action whose pleasure passes away but its (sinful) consequence remains, and an action whose hardship passes away but its reward remains.
[He was following a funeral procession and heard a man laughing, so he said:] It is as if death is prescribed for others in this world, and as if right is obligatory on others, and as if those whom we see dead are travelers who will soon return to us. We put them in their graves and eat their inheritance, as if we will remain forever after them. Then we forget every preacher and become the target of every calamity.
Blessed is he who humbles himself, whose income is pure, whose intentions are righteous, whose character is good, who spends the surplus of his wealth, who withholds the surplus of his speech, whose evil does not reach people, whom the Sunna suffices, and who does not ascribe himself to innovation.^[12]
The jealousy of a woman is disbelief (Kufr), and the jealousy of a man is faith.
I will define Islam as no one has defined it before me: Islam is submission, submission is certainty, certainty is affirmation, affirmation is acknowledgment, acknowledgment is performance, and performance is good deeds.
I wonder at the miser: he hastens towards the poverty he flees from, and misses the wealth he seeks. So he lives in this world like the poor and is reckoned in the next like the rich. I wonder at the arrogant: yesterday he was a sperm drop and tomorrow he will be a carcass. I wonder at him who doubts God while he sees God's creation. I wonder at him who forgets death while he sees the dead. I wonder at him who denies the second life while he sees the first creation. And I wonder at him who cultivates the transient abode and abandons the eternal abode.
Whoever falls short in action is afflicted with grief. He who has no share of his wealth and life for God, God has no need of him.
Guard yourselves against cold in its beginning and welcome it in its end, for it does to bodies what it does to trees: in the beginning, it burns (leaves), and in the end, it causes leaves to grow.
The greatness of the Creator in your mind makes the creature appear small in your eyes.
[When he returned from Siffin, he looked at the cemetery outside Kufa and said:] O residents of terrifying houses, empty places, and dark graves! O people of dust! O strangers! O lonely ones! O desolate ones! You have preceded us, and we are following you and will join you. As for the houses, they have been inhabited; as for the wives, they have been married; as for the wealth, it has been divided. This is the news we have; what is the news you have? [Then he turned to his companions and said:] If they were permitted to speak, they would inform you that the best provision is piety.
[He heard a man condemning the world, so he said:] O you who condemn the world, who are deceived by its tricks and deluded by its falsehoods, do you allow yourself to be deceived by it and then blame it? Do you have a claim against it for a crime, or does it have a claim against you? When did it confuse you, or how did it deceive you? Was it by the decay of your fathers' bodies, or by the sleeping places of your mothers under the ground? How often did you nurse with your hands and care for the sick? You sought their cure and described their illness to physicians. In the morning, your medicine did not help them, nor did your weeping benefit them. Your fear did not avail them, and what you sought was not achieved, nor did you repel death from them with your strength. The world set an example for you through them, and showed you its destruction through their demise. Indeed, the world is a house of truth for him who confirms it, a house of safety for him who understands it, a house of wealth for him who gathers provision from it, and a house of admonition for him who takes a lesson from it. It is the mosque of God's lovers, the prayer place of His angels, the landing place of God's revelation, and the trading place of His friends. They earned God's mercy in it and profited Paradise in it. So who is it that blames the world while it has announced its departure and proclaimed its mortality? It has announced its own death and the death of its people. With its affliction, it set an example of affliction for them, and with its joy, it created a longing for joy. Evenings pass in safety and mornings return with tragic calamity, to encourage and threaten, to frighten and warn. So people dispraised it in the morning of remorse, and others praised it on the Day of Resurrection. The world reminded them, and they remembered; it spoke to them, and they confirmed it; it preached to them, and they took the lesson.
God has an angel who calls out every day: Beget for death, collect for destruction, and build for ruin.
The world is a house of passage, not a dwelling place. And people in it are of two types: one who sells his soul and ruins it, and one who buys his soul and frees it.
A friend is not a true friend unless he protects his brother in three situations: in his adversity, in his absence, and at his death.
Whoever is given four things is not deprived of four things: whoever is given supplication is not deprived of the answer; whoever is given repentance is not deprived of acceptance; whoever is given seeking forgiveness is not deprived of forgiveness; and whoever is given gratitude is not deprived of increase. The evidence for this is in the Book of God. Regarding supplication: "Call upon Me; I will respond to you." regarding seeking forgiveness: "And whoever does a wrong or wrongs himself but then seeks forgiveness of Allah will find Allah Forgiving and Merciful." regarding gratitude: "If you are grateful, I will surely increase you." and regarding repentance: "The acceptance of repentance by Allah is only for those who do evil in ignorance and then repent soon after. It is those to whom Allah will turn in forgiveness, and Allah is ever Knowing and Wise."
Prayer is the means of approach for every pious person; Hajj is the Jihad of every weak person; everything has a Zakat, and the Zakat of the body is Fasting; and the Jihad of a woman is to be a good wife.
Bring down sustenance by giving charity.
Whoever is certain of the replacement creates generosity in donation.
Help (from God) arrives according to the measure of the trouble (needs).
He who practices moderation does not become poor.
Smallness of family is one of the two facilities.
Showing affection to people is half of wisdom.
Grief constitutes half of old age.
Patience descends according to the measure of the calamity; and he who slaps his thighs at a calamity, his reward is lost.
Many a fasting person gets nothing from his fasting except hunger and thirst, and many a person standing (in prayer) gets nothing from his standing except wakefulness and fatigue. Blessed is the sleep of the intelligent and their breaking of the fast.
Protect your faith with charity; protect your wealth with Zakat; and ward off the waves of calamity with supplication.
[ Kumayl b. Ziyad said: Amir al-Mu'minin 'Ali b. Abi Talib (a) took my hand and brought me out to the desert. When he reached the open land, he sighed deeply and said:] O Kumayl! These hearts are vessels; the best of them is the one that retains most. So memorize what I say to you: People are of three types: a scholar who knows God (divine scholar), a learner on the path of salvation, and the riffraff who follow every croaker and bend with every wind. They have not been illuminated by the light of knowledge nor have they taken refuge in a solid support. O Kumayl! Knowledge is better than wealth. Knowledge guards you, while you guard wealth. Wealth decreases by spending, while knowledge increases by being spent (disseminated). And the product of wealth disappears with the disappearance of wealth. O Kumayl b. Ziyad! The recognition of knowledge is a religion by which one submits (to God). Through it, a person acquires obedience in his life and a good name after his death. Knowledge is a ruler, and wealth is ruled over. O Kumayl! The hoarders of wealth are dead even while they are alive, but the scholars remain as long as time remains. Their bodies are missing, but their images are present in the hearts. Behold! Here [pointing to his chest] is abundant knowledge; if only I could find carriers for it. Yes, I found one who is quick to understand but not trustworthy; he uses the instrument of religion for the world, seeks dominance with God's arguments over His Book, and with God's favors over His servants. Or one who is obedient to the carriers of truth but has no insight into its subtleties; doubt sparks in his heart at the first appearance of ambiguity. So neither this one nor that one (is suitable). Or one who is greedy for pleasures, easily led by lusts, or infatuated with gathering and hoarding wealth. Neither of them is fit to guard religion in any way; they are most like grazing cattle. Thus knowledge dies with the death of its carriers. But the earth is never devoid of one who stands for God with a proof (Hujja), either manifest and well-known or afraid and hidden, so that God's proofs and clear signs may not be invalidated. How many are they and where are they? By God, they are few in number, but greatest in esteem before God. Through them, God preserves His proofs and signs until they entrust them to their likes and sow them in the hearts of their counterparts. Knowledge has rushed upon them with the reality of insight, and they have touched the spirit of certainty. They deem easy what the luxurious deem difficult, and they are intimate with what the ignorant are averse to. They accompany the world with bodies whose spirits are hung in the highest assembly. These are God's vicegerents on His earth and the callers to His religion. Ah, how I long to see them! Go back now, O Kumayl, if you wish.
A man is hidden under his tongue.
He who does not know his own worth ruins himself.
[To a man who asked him for advice, he said:] Do not be among those who hope for the hereafter without action, and delay repentance due to long hopes. He speaks about the world like ascetics, but acts in it like those who seek it. If he is given of it, he is not satisfied, and if he is denied it, he is not content. He is unable to thank for what he is given and seeks increase in what remains. He forbids evil but does not desist, and commands what he does not do. He loves the virtuous but does not act like them, and hates the sinners while he is one of them. He dislikes death because of his many sins, yet persists in what makes him fear death. If he falls sick, he remains remorseful; if he is healthy, he feels secure and indulges in amusement. When he recovers, he becomes arrogant, and when afflicted, he despairs. If a trial befalls him, he calls upon God helplessly; if he finds hope, he turns away proudly. In what involves doubt, he obeys his lusts; in what he is certain of, he is too weak to control his self. He fears for others for sins less than his own, and hopes for himself more than his deeds deserve. If he becomes rich, he becomes arrogant and dazzled; if he becomes poor, he despairs and becomes weak. He is short in action but long in asking. When lust overpowers him, he advances sin and delays repentance; when hardship befalls him, he steps outside the rulings of the religion. He describes lessons but does not learn them; he exaggerates in preaching but does not accept preaching. He is eloquent in speech but scarce in action. He competes in fleeting things and is negligent in lasting things. He considers gain as loss and loss as gain. He fears death but wastes opportunity. He considers the sins of others great but considers his own greater sins small; and he considers his own obedience great while considering the similar obedience of others small. So he slanders people and flatters himself. He prefers amusement with the rich over remembrance of God with the poor. He judges against others for his own benefit, and does not judge against himself for others' benefit. He guides others but misguides himself. He is obeyed but he disobeys. He exacts his rights fully but does not fulfill the rights of others. He fears people regarding his Lord, but does not fear his Lord regarding people.
Everyone has an end, be it sweet or bitter.
Every comer has a chance of return, but what has turned away is as if it never existed.
The patient person does not lose victory, even if time is long for him.
He who consents to the action of a people is like one who enters into it with them. And everyone who enters into falsehood has two sins upon him: the sin of action and the sin of consent.
Keep the covenants of those from whom you expect faithfulness.
Obey those whom you have no excuse for not knowing.^[13]
You were shown if you would see, you were guided if you would be guided, and you were made to hear if you would hear.
Reprimand your brother by doing good to him, and ward off his evil by granting him favors.
He who places himself in positions of suspicion should not blame him who thinks ill of him.
Whoever gains power (unjustly) becomes autocratic; whoever consults with men shares in their minds.
He who keeps his secret retains the choice in his own hand.
Poverty is the greater death.
He who fulfills the right of someone who does not fulfill his right, has essentially worshipped him (accepted slavery to him).
There is no obedience to a creature in disobedience to the Creator.^[14]
A man is not blamed for delaying in taking his right, but he is blamed for taking what is not his.
Self-conceit is an obstacle to increase (in merit).
Death is near and companionship (with the world) is short.
For him who sees with his two eyes, the morning is bright.
Abandoning sin is easier than seeking repentance.
Many a single eating prevents many eatings (pleasures).
People are enemies of what they do not know.
He who welcomes opinions recognizes the correct from the incorrect.
Whoever becomes angry for the sake of God, destroys falsehood however strong it may be.
When you are afraid of something, dive into it, for the difficulty of guarding against it is greater than the difficulty of falling into it.
Broad-mindedness and forbearance are the tools of leadership.
Punish the evildoer by rewarding the good-doer.
Uproot evil from the breast of others by uprooting it from your own breast.
Obstinacy destroys good counsel.
Greed is eternal slavery.
Shortcoming in action results in regret, and foresight results in safety.
Silence is not proper where speech is required, nor is speech proper where ignorance prevails.
No two claims differ but that one of them is on the path of error.
I have never doubted the truth since it was shown to me.
I have not lied nor have I been lied to; I have not gone astray nor has anyone been led astray by me.
He who starts with oppression will bite his hand (in regret) tomorrow.
Departure is imminent.
Whoever struggles against the truth, it will knock him down.
He whom patience does not save, impatience will destroy.
Wonder! Caliphate is attained by companionship! [And a poem is narrated from him in this regard:] If you took control of their affairs by consultation, how was it a consultation when the voters were absent? And if you argued against the claimants by kinship, then others were closer to the Prophet and more entitled than you.
Man in this world is a target for the arrows of death, and a booty for calamities hasten towards him. With every drink there is choking, and with every morsel there is a suffocation. A servant does not attain a blessing except by parting with another, and does not welcome a day of his life except by exhausting a day of his appointed time. So we are helpers of death and our souls are targets of mortality; how then can we hope for eternity? This night and day have raised nothing but to hasten to destroy it and scatter what they have gathered.
O son of Adam! Whatever you earn beyond your daily food, you are only a treasurer of it for others.
Hearts have inclinations, advancements, and retreats. So approach them when they are inclined and advancing, for if the heart is forced, it becomes blind.
When I get angry, when shall I vent my anger? When I am unable to take revenge, so it is said to me: "If you are patient it is better"? Or when I am able, so it is said to me: "If you forgive it is better"?
[He passed by a filth hill and said:] This is what misers were stingy with. [And in another narration:] This is what you were competing for yesterday.
The wealth that is lost but teaches you a lesson is not really lost.
These hearts get weary just as bodies get weary, so seek for them fresh sayings of wisdom.
[When he heard the saying of the Khawarij "No rule but God's", he said:] A word of truth by which falsehood is intended.
[Describing the mob, he said:] They are those who, when they gather, they conquer (harm), and when they disperse, they are not recognized (they benefit). [It is said the Imam said:] They are those who, when they gather, cause harm, and when they disperse, bring benefit. [They asked: We know the harm of their gathering, but what is the benefit of their dispersal? He said:] Artisans return to their crafts and people benefit from them: the builder goes to build his building, the weaver to his workshop, and the baker to his bakery.
[A criminal was brought to him surrounded by a mob, he said:] Welcome to faces that are not seen except at times of evil.
With every man there are two angels who watch him, and when the decree (of God) comes, they leave him to it. The fixed span of life is a shield for the human being.
[Talha and al-Zubayr said to him: We pledge allegiance to you on the condition that we share with you in the Caliphate. He said:] No, but you are partners in strengthening and seeking help, and two assistants in times of incapacity and hardship.
O people! Fear God who hears if you speak and knows if you conceal (in your hearts). And rush towards death which will overtake you if you flee, catch you if you stay, and remember you if you forget it.
Let not the ungratefulness of someone discourage you from doing good, for perhaps one who does not benefit from it will thank you for it, and perhaps you will receive from the gratitude of the grateful more than what the ungrateful wasted. "And Allah loves the doers of good."
Every vessel becomes tighter with what is put in it, except the vessel of knowledge, for it expands.
The first compensation of the forbearing person for his forbearance is that people become his supporters against the ignorant.
If you are not forbearing, then feign forbearance, for it is rare that one imitates a people and does not become one of them.
Whoever takes account of his soul gains, and whoever neglects it loses. Whoever fears is safe, and whoever takes heed sees. Whoever sees understands, and whoever understands knows.
The world will turn to us affectionately after being refractory, just as the biting she-camel turns to her young. Then he recited this verse: "And We desired to bestow a favor upon those who were deemed weak in the land, and to make them the Imams, and to make them the inheritors."
Fear God like one who has prepared himself, risen and hastened, and strove during the opportunities, and feared and set forth on the path (of obedience), and looked at where he must go and the end he will reach.
Chivalry is the guard of reputations; forbearance is the muzzle of the fool; forgiveness is the Zakat of victory; forgetting the treacherous is a recompense for you; consultation is the eye of guidance; he who is content with his own opinion endangers himself; patience repels the hardships of time; impatience helps time to wear out the person; the noblest wealth is abandoning desires; many a mind is a prisoner to the command of lust; gaining experience is success; showing affection leads to connection with people; and never trust one who is weary and cannot bear burdens.
Self-conceit is one of the enviers of one's intellect.
You must endure harm and pain, otherwise you will never be pleased.
Whoever's tree (character) is soft, its branches are many.
Dispute destroys planning.
Whoever attains authority becomes authoritative (looks down on others).
In the changes of time, the essence of men is revealed.
The jealousy of a friend is from the impurity of his friendship.
The slaughterhouse of intellects is mostly under the flash of greed.
It is not justice to judge based on suspicion.
Oppression against servants is the worst provision for the Hereafter.
One of the noblest actions of a generous man is to ignore what he knows (of others' faults).
Whoever clothes himself with modesty, no one sees his fault.
With much silence, dignity is acquired; with justice, friends increase; with generosity, greatness is enhanced; with humility, blessing becomes complete; with bearing hardships, leadership is attained; with justice, the enemy is defeated; and with forbearance against the fool, supporters increase.
I wonder at the enviers; how negligent they are of the health of people (and their own peace).
The greedy is bound by the shackles of disgrace.
[He was asked about Faith, he said:] Faith is acknowledgment with the heart, pronunciation with the tongue, and action with the limbs.
Whoever is grieved about the world is angry with God's decree. Whoever complains about a calamity that has befallen him is complaining about his Lord. Whoever goes to a rich man and humiliates himself for his wealth loses two-thirds of his religion. Whoever reads the Quran and dies and enters Hell is one of those who took God's signs in mockery. Whoever's heart is attached to the love of the world, his heart is attached to three things: a worry that never leaves him, a greed that never abandons him, and a hope he never attains.
Contentment is sufficient wealth, and good character is an available blessing. [He was asked about the meaning of "We will surely cause him to live a good life," he said:] It is contentment.
Share with the one whom fortune has favored, for he is more deserving of wealth and more worthy of the turn of luck.
[Regarding God's saying "Indeed, Allah orders justice and good conduct," he said:] Justice is fairness, and Ihsan (good conduct) is doing favors.
He who gives with a short hand is given with a long hand.^[15]
[He said to his son al-Hasan:] Do not invite anyone to fight, but if you are invited to it, accept, for the initiator of war is a tyrant, and the tyrant is defeated.
The best traits of women are the worst traits of men: vanity, fear, and miserliness. Thus, when a woman is vain, she will not allow anyone to touch her; when she is miserly, she will guard her own and her husband's property; and when she is fearful, she will be afraid of everything that approaches her.
[He was asked to describe the wise man, he said:] The wise man is he who puts everything in its proper place. [Then he was asked to describe the ignorant man, he said:] I have described him (by implication).
By God, this world of yours is more despicable in my eyes than a pig's bone in the hand of a leper.
A group of people worshipped God out of desire for reward; this is the worship of traders. Another group worshipped Him out of fear; this is the worship of slaves. And a group worshipped Him out of gratitude; this is the worship of free men.
Woman is all evil, and the worst thing about her is that she is indispensable.
Whoever hands over his reins to negligence wastes rights, and whoever obeys a slanderer loses a friend.
A stone usurped in a house is a pledge for its ruin.
The day of the oppressed against the oppressor is severer than the day of the oppressor against the oppressed.
Fear God even if it is a little fear, and place a curtain between yourself and God even if it is thin.
When answers are similar and confused, the correct answer remains hidden.
God has a right in every blessing; whoever fulfills that right, God increases the blessing for him, and whoever falls short in it exposes the blessing to loss.
When ability increases, desire decreases.
Beware of the flight of blessings, for not everything that flees returns.
Chivalry is more affectionate than kinship.
He who thinks well of you—verify his opinion (by doing good).
The best deeds are those you force yourself to do.
I recognized God by the breaking of determinations and the untying of knots (solutions to difficulties).
The bitterness of this world is the sweetness of the hereafter, and the sweetness of this world is the bitterness of the hereafter.
God made Faith obligatory for purification from polytheism; Prayer for purification from arrogance; Zakat as a cause for provision; Fasting as a trial for the sincerity of creatures; Hajj for the approach of religionists; Jihad for the glory of Islam and Muslims; Enjoining the good for the correction of the public; Forbidding the evil for restraining the foolish; maintaining family ties for increasing number; Retaliation for sparing blood; establishing Penalties for magnifying prohibitions; abandoning drinking wine for the preservation of intellect; avoiding theft for adhering to chastity; avoiding adultery for protecting lineage; abandoning sodomy for increasing progeny; witnessing for the restoration of denied rights; abandoning lying for honoring truth; greeting (Salam) for safety from fears; Imamate for the order of the nation; and obedience for magnifying the Imam.
Make the oppressor swear, if you must make him swear, that he is free from God's power and might; for if he swears falsely by this, punishment will hasten to him. But if he swears by God besides whom there is no god, punishment will not hasten to him because he has affirmed God's unity.
O son of Adam! Be your own executor in your wealth, and do with it what you would like to be done with it after you.
Sharp temper is a kind of madness, because the sharp-tempered person regrets; and if he does not regret, his madness is firmly established.
When envy is little, the body is healthy.
O Kumayl! Tell your family to go out in the day to acquire noble traits and in the night to fulfill the needs of sleepers. For by Him whose hearing encompasses all voices, no one gladdens a heart but that God creates a grace from that joy, and when a calamity befalls him, that grace flows towards it like water flowing downhill to drive it away as a strange camel is driven away.
When you become poor, trade with God by giving charity.
Fidelity to the treacherous is treachery to God, and treachery to the treacherous is fidelity to God.
Many a person is gradually lured by kindness shown to him; many a person is deceived by the concealment of his sin; and many a person is deluded by good words said about him. And God has not tested anyone as He has tested the one given respite in life.
[When news reached him that Mu'awiya's men had raided Anbar, he walked to Nukhayla. People joined him there and said: O Amir al-Mu'minin, we will suffice you against them. He said:] You cannot suffice yourselves, how can you suffice me against others? Before me, subjects used to complain about the oppression of rulers, but today I complain about the oppression of my subjects. It is as if I am the led and they are the leaders, I am the ruled and they are the rulers. [When he spoke at length (excerpts appear in sermons), two of his companions came to him. One said: I have control only over myself and my brother, so command us, O Amir al-Mu'minin. He said:] Where are you in relation to what I want?
[It is said that Al-Harith b. Hut came to him and said: Do you think I consider the Companions of the Camel to be in error? He said:] O Harith! You have looked beneath you but not above you, so you are confused. You have not known the truth to know its people, nor have you known falsehood to know its followers. [Harith said: I will withdraw with Sa'd b. Malik and Abd Allah b. Umar. He said:] Sa'd and 'Abd Allah b. 'Umar did not help the right nor did they forsake the wrong.
The companion of the sultan is like one riding a lion; others envy his position while he knows his own situation better.
Do good to the survivors of others so that mercy may be shown to your survivors.
The speech of the wise, if correct, is a cure; if incorrect, it is a disease.
[A man asked him to define Faith. He said:] Come to me tomorrow so I may answer you in the presence of people, so that if you forget my speech, another may remember it, for speech is like runaway prey; one catches it and another misses it.^[16]
O son of Adam! Do not add the worry of your coming day to the worry of your present day, for if tomorrow is part of your life, God will grant you your provision in it.
Do not love your friend excessively, for he may become your enemy one day; and do not hate your enemy excessively, for he may become your friend one day.
People of the world are of two kinds: One who works for the world and the world distracts him from his hereafter; he fears poverty for his heirs but feels safe about himself. So he spends his life for the benefit of others. And one who works in the world for what is after the world, so his share of the world comes to him without effort. He secures both shares and possesses both worlds. He is honorable before God and asks nothing of God but He grants it.
[It is said that during the caliphate of 'Umar b. al-Khattab, the ornaments of the Ka'ba were mentioned. Some said: If you sell them and equip the Muslim armies with the price, it would be a greater reward; what need has the Ka'ba for ornaments? 'Umar intended to do so and asked Amir al-Mu'minin. He said:] The Quran was revealed to the Prophet (s) and wealth was of four kinds: The wealth of Muslims which he distributed among the heirs according to their shares; the war booty which he distributed among its recipients; the Khums which he placed where it belonged; and the charities which God placed in their specified uses. At that time, the Ka'ba had ornaments and God left them as they were. He did not leave them out of forgetfulness, nor was their place hidden from Him. So leave them where God and His Prophet placed them. ['Umar said: If it were not for you, we would have been disgraced. And he left the ornaments as they were.]
[It is narrated that two men were brought to him who had stolen from God's wealth: one was a slave purchased from the Bayt al-Mal (Public Treasury), and the other was from the general public. He said:] As for this one, he is part of God's wealth, and there is no Hadd (punishment) upon him, for God's wealth has eaten some of God's wealth. But as for the other, the Hadd applies to him. And he cut off his hand.
If my feet stand firm on this slippery ground,^[17] I will change many things.^[18]
Know with certainty that God has not ordained for His servant—however strong his strategy and however intense his search—more than what He has written for him in the Wise Remembrance. And He does not prevent the servant—however weak and lacking in strategy—from attaining what is ordained for him. He who knows this and acts upon it is the most comfortable of people and gains the most profit. He who abandons it and doubts it is the most busy and harmful to himself. Many a person is lured by blessings and finally ruined, and many a person is afflicted by trials for God to bless him. So, O seeker, increase your gratitude, decrease your haste, and stop at the limit of your provision.
Do not consider your knowledge as ignorance and your certainty as doubt. When you know, act; and when you are certain, proceed.
Greed is a driver to destruction and not a savior; it is a guarantor that does not fulfill its guarantee. Many a drinker chokes before quenching his thirst. The value of what is competed for, however great, is less than the calamity of losing it. Hopes blind the eyes of insight, and luck comes to him who does not seek it.
O God! I seek refuge in You lest my outward appearance in the eyes of people be good while my inner self, which I hide for You, be ugly; guarding myself to show people good appearances while presenting You with my evil deeds; seeking closeness to Your servants while distancing myself from Your pleasure.
No! By God, whom we are helpless before His power, we have passed a dark night which will be followed by a bright day; it has not been such and such.
A little that continues is better than a lot that brings boredom.
If supererogatory acts harm the obligatory acts, abandon them.
He who remembers the distance of the journey prepares himself.
Thinking is not like seeing with eyes, for eyes may show what is not there, but reason does not betray the one who seeks its counsel.
Between you and admonition is a curtain of negligence.
Your ignorant one does too much, and your learned one delays what should be done now.
Knowledge has closed the path of excuse for those who make excuses.
Everyone is sought by death, and everyone seeks respite. Everyone has a fixed time, yet they delay and stop working.
People do not say "Congratulations" on a blessing except that time has stored an evil day for it.
[He was asked about Destiny (Qadar), he said:] It is a dark path, do not tread it; it is a deep sea, do not enter it; and it is God's secret, do not burden yourself with uncovering it.
When God wishes to humiliate a servant, He deprives him of knowledge.
In the past, I had a brother in God (faith). The smallness of the world in his eyes made him great in my eyes. He was not ruled by his stomach, so he did not desire what he did not find, and did not use excessively what he found. He was silent most of his days, but if he spoke, he silenced the speakers and quenched the thirst of questioners. He was humble and weak in appearance, but at the time of seriousness, he was like a lion of the forest or a serpent of the valley. He would not adduce an argument until he came to the judge. He would not blame anyone for an excuse until he heard the excuse. He would not complain of pain except after recovery. He did what he said and did not say what he did not do. If he was overcome in speech, he was not overcome in silence. He was more eager to hear than to speak. When faced with two matters, he would look to see which was closer to desire and oppose it. You should acquire these qualities and compete in them. If you cannot, know that taking a little is better than leaving all.
If God had not warned against His disobedience, it would be obligatory not to disobey Him out of gratitude for His blessings.
[He consoled Al-Ash'ath b. Qays upon the death of his son:] O Ash'ath! If you grieve for your son, it is because of the kinship you have; but if you are patient, God provides a recompense for every calamity. O Ash'ath! If you are patient, the decree of God runs its course and you are rewarded; if you are impatient, the decree of God runs its course and you are sinful. Your son pleased you while he was a trial and a test, and he grieved you while he is a reward and mercy.
[At the grave of the Messenger of God (s) during his burial, he said:] Patience is beautiful except in losing you, and impatience is ugly except over your death. Your calamity is tremendous, and every calamity before and after it is small.
Do not associate with a fool, for he beautifies his actions for you and loves that you be like him.
[He was asked about the distance between East and West, he said:] The distance of one day's journey of the sun.
Your friends are three and your enemies are three. Your friends: your friend, your friend's friend, and your enemy's enemy. Your enemies: your enemy, your friend's enemy, and your enemy's friend.
[He saw a man striving to harm his enemy while harming himself, he said:] You are like one who stabs himself with a spear to kill the one riding behind him.
How many are the lessons, and how few are those who take them.
He who goes to extremes in enmity sins, and he who falls short in it is oppressed; and he who is quarrelsome cannot fear God.
A sin after which I have time to pray two units of prayer does not grieve me.
[He was asked: How does God reckon the people despite their great numbers? He said:] Just as He provides for them despite their great numbers. [They asked: How does He reckon them without them seeing Him? He said:] Just as He provides for them without them seeing Him.
Your messenger is the interpreter of your intellect, and your letter is the most eloquent speech on your behalf.
He who is afflicted with a severe calamity is not more in need of supplication than the one who is safe but expects calamity.
People are children of the world, and children are not blamed for loving their mother.
The beggar is the messenger of God; whoever denies him denies God, and whoever gives to him pays gratitude and respect to God.
A jealous person never commits adultery.
The span of life is enough as a guard.
A person whose child dies can sleep, but one whose wealth is stolen cannot sleep.
The friendship of fathers creates kinship among children. Kinship needs affection more than affection needs kinship.
Beware of the conjectures of the believers, for God has placed the truth on their tongues.
The faith of a servant is not true until his trust in what is with God is greater than his trust in what is in his own hand.
[He sent Anas b. Malik to Talha and al-Zubayr in Basra to remind them of a Hadith he heard from the Messenger of God (s). Anas refused to deliver the message and when he returned, he said: "I forgot." The Imam said:] If you are lying, may God afflict you with a white spot (leprosy) that a Turban cannot cover. [Anas was afflicted with leprosy on his face and was never seen without a veil thereafter.]
Hearts have receptiveness and aversion. If the heart is receptive, engage it in supererogatory acts; and if it turns away, restrict it to obligatory acts.
In the Quran is the news of what was before you, the news of what will be after you, and the ruling on how you should live.
Return the stone to where it came from, for evil is not repelled except by evil.
[He said to his scribe 'Ubayd Allah b. Abi Rafi': Do not put too much wool in your inkwell, trim the tip of your pen long, leave space between lines, and bring letters close together, for this is appropriate for the beauty of writing.
I am the leader of the believers, and wealth is the leader of the wicked. [Meaning: believers follow me, and the wicked follow wealth just as bees follow their queen].
[A Jew said to him: You differed about your Prophet before you buried him. The Imam said:] We differed about what came from him, not about him. But you, your feet had not yet dried from the seawater when you said to your Prophet: "Make for us a god just as they have gods. He said: Indeed, you are a people behaving ignorantly."
[He was asked: How did you overcome your adversaries? He said:] I never met anyone but that he helped me against himself. [Meaning my fear fell into his heart.]
[He said to his son Muhammad b. al-Hanafiyya: My son, I fear poverty for you. So seek refuge in God from it, for poverty causes deficiency in religion, confusion in reason, and brings about hatred.
[To someone who asked him a difficult question:] Ask to understand, not to annoy; for the ignorant one who learns is like a scholar, and the scholar who is unfair is like an ignorant quarreler.
[To 'Abd Allah b. 'Abbas regarding an opinion he gave which the Imam did not agree with:] You have the right to advise me, and if I do not accept, you must obey me.
[It is said that when he returned from Siffin to Kufa, he passed by the Shibamiyyun^[19] and heard the women weeping for the martyrs of Siffin. Harb b. Shurahbil al-Shibami, a chief of his people, came to him. The Imam said:] As I hear, your women have overcome you; why do you not stop them from wailing? [Harb walked with him while the Imam was riding. He said to him:] Go back, for the walking of someone like you with someone like me is a trial for the ruler and a humiliation for the believer.
[When he passed by the corpses of the Khawarij on the day of Nahrawan, he said:] Woe to you! He who deceived you harmed you. [He was asked: O Amir al-Mu'minin, who deceived them? He said:] The misleading Satan and the souls commanding evil deceived them with hopes, paved the way for their disobedience, promised them victory, and threw them into the Fire.
Beware of disobeying God in solitude, for the Witness is the Judge.
[When news of the killing of Muhammad b. Abi Bakr reached him, he said:] Our grief for him is equal to their joy for him, except that a hatred diminished from them and a love departed from us.
The age at which God removes the excuse of the son of Adam is sixty years.
He whom sin overpowers is not victorious, and he whom evil dominates is defeated.
God Almighty has made the livelihood of the poor obligatory in the wealth of the rich. So no poor person remains hungry except by what a rich person has withheld. And God will question the rich about this.
Being free of the need for an excuse is more honorable than offering a truthful excuse.
The least right of God Almighty upon you is that you should not use His blessings to disobey Him.
God Almighty has made obedience a spoil for the intelligent when the incapable fall short in it.
The power of rulers is God's guard on His earth.
[Describing the believer:] The believer's joy is in his face and his grief is in his heart. His chest is widest, and his ego is lowest. He dislikes supremacy and hates fame. His grief is long, his ambition is high. His silence is much, his time is occupied. He is grateful, patient, deep in thought, dependent on no one for his needs, of gentle nature, and easy-going. His soul is harder than granite (in religion) and he is humbler than a slave.
If the servant saw the deadline (death) and its end, he would hate hope and its deception.
Every person has two partners in his wealth: the heir and accidents.
He from whom something is asked is free until he promises.
He who calls (to God) without action is like an archer shooting without a bowstring.
Knowledge is of two kinds: innate and acquired. Acquired knowledge is of no use if innate knowledge is absent.
Right opinion accompanies authority; it comes with it and goes with it.
Chastity is the ornament of poverty, and gratitude is the ornament of wealth.
The day of justice against the oppressor is severer than the day of oppression against the oppressed.
The greatest wealth is despairing of what is in the hands of people.
"Words are preserved with the Watcher", "secrets are manifest", and "every soul is hostage to what it has earned." People are deficient in intellect and sick, except him whom God protects. Their questioner is annoying, and their answerer puts himself to trouble. He who has a better opinion may be turned by pleasure or anger, and the most steadfast may be annoyed by a glance or changed by a word.
O people! Fear God, for many a hopeful person does not reach his hope, many a builder does not live in what he built, and many a gatherer will soon leave what he gathered. Perhaps he gathered it illegitimately or denied a right, acquiring it unlawfully and bearing its sin. He returns with the burden of sin, arriving regretful and sorrowful before his Lord. "Loss in this world and the Hereafter; that is the manifest loss."
Inability to sin is a kind of abstention from sin.
Your face water (honor) is solid; begging melts it. So look at whom you melt it before.
Praising more than is due is flattery; praising less than is due is incapacity or envy.
The gravest sin is that which the sinner considers light.
He who looks at his own fault does not look at the fault of others (Fault-finding), and he who is content with God's provision does not grieve over what he misses. He who draws the sword of oppression is killed by it. He who struggles in affairs ruins himself. He who enters the waves recklessly drowns. He who enters places of ill-repute is accused. He who speaks much errs much; he who errs much, his shame is little; he whose shame is little, his piety is little; he whose piety is little, his heart dies; and he whose heart dies enters the Fire. He who looks at the faults of people and disapproves of them, then approves of them for himself, is the absolute fool. Contentment is a wealth that does not end. He who remembers death much is satisfied with little of the world. He who knows that his speech is part of his action speaks only of what concerns him.
The oppressor has three signs: he oppresses his superior by disobedience, his inferior by dominance and harassment, and supports the oppressors.
When hardship reaches its limit, relief comes; and when the rings of calamity become tight, ease arrives.
[To one of his companions:] Do not worry much about your wife and children, for if they are friends of God, God will not waste His friends; and if they are enemies of God, why should you worry about God's enemies?
The greatest fault is to blame something while you have the like of it in yourself.
[A man congratulated another in the Imam's presence on the birth of a son, saying: "Congratulations on the horseman." The Imam said:] Do not say that. Say: You have thanked the Giver, blessed is the gift, may he reach maturity, and may you be blessed with his righteousness.
[One of his officials built a magnificent palace. The Imam said:] The silver coins have raised their heads (revealed themselves). This building speaks of your wealth.
[He was asked: If a man is locked in a house, where will his provision come from? He said:] From where his death comes.
[Consoling people on the death of one of them:] This matter did not begin with you, nor will it end with you. This friend of yours was traveling; consider him in one of his journeys. If he returns to you, fine; otherwise, you will go to him.
O people! Let God see you fearing at the time of blessing just as you fear at the time of punishment. He who is given expansion in wealth and does not see it as a hidden trap considers himself safe from a fearful matter; and he who is restricted in wealth and does not consider it a test wastes a reward he could have hoped for.
O captives of desire! Abstain, for the one inclined to the world is seized by fear when the calamities of time grind their teeth. O people! Undertake your own discipline and turn your souls away from the habits they are greedy for.
Do not think ill of a word that comes out of someone's mouth as long as you can find a good interpretation for it.
When you have a need from God Almighty, start by sending blessings on the Messenger of God (s), then ask your need, for God is too generous to be asked for two needs and grant one and withhold the other.
Whoever wants to save his honor should avoid dispute.
It is foolishness to hasten before having power and to delay after having opportunity.
Do not ask about what has not happened, for what has happened is enough to occupy you.
Thought is a clear mirror, daily warning is a pure admonisher, and it suffices for your self-discipline to avoid what you dislike in others.
Knowledge must be accompanied by action; he who learns must act. Knowledge calls action; if it answers, (it stays), otherwise it departs.
O people! Worldly wealth is like dry, pestilent grass; so avoid this pasture. To detach from it is better than to settle in it comfortably, and to take enough for a day is purer than accumulating wealth. He who takes much from it is condemned to poverty, and he who considers himself free of need is joined with comfort. He who is pleased with the beauty of the world, blindness comes upon him. He who is infatuated with the world, it fills his heart with griefs—griefs dancing in the core of his heart, one occupying him and another grieving him until his throat is choked and he dies in a corner. His veins are cut (death arrives), his destruction is easy for God, and casting him (into the grave) is a duty for the brethren. Indeed, the believer looks at the world with eyes of lesson, eats from it only out of necessity, and hears in it (worldly talk) with ears of hatred and enmity. If it is said someone became rich, soon it is said he became destitute; and if they rejoice at his life, they grieve that his life ended. This is the state, while the day when they will despair has not yet come.
God Almighty placed reward in obedience and punishment in disobedience to save His servants from His punishment and drive them to His Paradise.
A time will come upon people when nothing remains of the Quran except its script and of Islam except its name. In that time, their mosques will be built structurally but ruined of guidance. Their inhabitants and builders will be the worst people on earth; fitna (sedition) arises from them and returns to them. He who isolates himself from fitna is returned to it, and he who lags behind is driven towards it. God Almighty says: "By Myself, I will send upon them a trial in which the forbearing will be bewildered," and He has done so. We ask God to forgive our slips of negligence.
[It is narrated that the Imam rarely sat on the pulpit without saying before the sermon:] O people! Fear God, for no human is created in vain to play, nor left alone to engage in useless things. The world which appears beautiful to him does not replace the Hereafter which he considers ugly. And the deceived one who attains the highest aim in the world is not like the one who attains the least share of the Hereafter.
There is no honor higher than Islam, no glory more noble than piety, no fortress better than self-restraint, no intercessor more successful than repentance, and no treasure richer than contentment. No wealth removes poverty like being content with daily provision. He who is content with daily provision prepares his own comfort and settles in ease. Love of the world is the key to difficulty and the mount of trouble. Greed, conceit, and envy are incentives for falling recklessly into sins, and bad character gathers all evils.
[He said to Jabir b. 'Abd Allah al-Ansari:] O Jabir! Religion and the world stand on four things: A scholar who uses his knowledge, an ignorant person who does not disdain learning, a wealthy person who is not miserly with his charity, and a poor person who does not sell his Hereafter for his world. If the scholar wastes his knowledge, the ignorant will not learn; and if the wealthy is miserly with his charity, the poor will sell his Hereafter for the world. O Jabir! He upon whom God's favors are many, the people's needs towards him are many. So whoever acts for God in those favors, God will make them last for him; and whoever does not use them as obligatory, exposes them to disappearance and destruction.
Ibn Jarir al-Tabari narrated in his history from 'Abd al-Rahman b. Abi Layla, the Faqih, who was among those who went out with Ibn al-Ash'ath to fight al-Hajjaj. 'Abd al-Rahman said to encourage people to Jihad: On the day we met the people of Sham, I heard Ali (a) saying:] O believers! Whoever sees aggression being committed or a prohibited act being invited to, and denies it with his heart, he is safe and innocent. Whoever denies it with his tongue is rewarded and is better than the former. And whoever denies it with the sword so that God's word becomes supreme and the word of the oppressors becomes low, he is the one who has found the path of guidance and stood upon it, and the light of certainty shines in his heart.
[In another speech of this kind, he said:] Among people is he who disapproves of evil with his hand, tongue, and heart; such a person has completed the good traits. Among them is he who disapproves with his tongue and heart but not his hand; such a person has grasped two good traits and wasted one. Among them is he who disapproves with his heart but not his hand or tongue; such a person has wasted two nobler traits and grasped one. And among them is he who does not disapprove of evil with his hand, tongue, or heart; such a person is a dead man among the living. All good deeds and Jihad in the way of God, compared to Enjoining the Good and Forbidding the Evil, are like a puff in a vast, surging sea. Indeed, Enjoining the Good and Forbidding the Evil do not bring death closer nor decrease provision. And more excellent than all of these is a word of justice in front of an unjust ruler.
Abu Juhayfa said: I heard Amir al-Mu'minin (a) saying:] The first kind of Jihad that you will lose is Jihad with your hands, then Jihad with your tongues, then Jihad with your hearts. He whose heart does not praise good and dislike evil is overturned; his low becomes high and his high becomes low.
Truth is heavy but wholesome; falsehood is light but pestilential.
Do not feel safe from God's punishment about the best of this community, for God Almighty says: "Then, do they feel secure from the plan of Allah? But no one feels secure from the plan of Allah except the losing people." And do not despair of God's mercy for the worst of this community, for God Almighty says: "Indeed, no one despairs of relief from Allah except the disbelieving people."
Stinginess gathers all evils and is a rein that leads to every badness.
Sustenance is of two kinds: sustenance that you seek, and sustenance that seeks you, which if you do not go to it, comes to you. So do not load the worry of your year onto the worry of your day, for the provision of each day suffices you for it. If that year is part of your life, God Almighty will give you what He has decreed for you in each new day. And if that year is not part of your life, then why worry about what is not yours? No seeker precedes you to your provision, no overcomer overcomes you in it, and what is destined for you will not be delayed.
Many a person meets a morning but does not reach its evening, and many a person is envied at the beginning of the night and wept over by mourners at its end.
Speech is in your bond until you utter it; when you utter it, you are in its bond. So guard your tongue as you guard your gold and silver. For many a word snatched a blessing and attracted a punishment.
Do not say what you do not know; rather, do not say all that you know. For God has imposed obligations on your limbs by which He will argue against you on the Day of Resurrection.
Fear that God sees you in disobedience to Him and misses you in obedience to Him, lest you be among the losers. So if you are strong, use your strength in obedience to God; and if you are weak, use your weakness in disobeying Him.
It is ignorance to rely on the world while seeing its instability. Shortcoming in good deeds while certain of reward is a loss. Trusting anyone before testing him is the act of the weak.
It is enough for the humbleness of the world before God that He is not disobeyed except in it, and the reward with God is not attained except by abandoning it.
He who seeks something attains it or part of it.
A good that is followed by the Fire is not good, and an evil that is followed by Paradise is not evil. Every blessing other than Paradise is small, and every calamity other than the Fire is safety.
Know that among the calamities is poverty, and worse than poverty is sickness of the body, and worse than sickness of the body is sickness of the heart. Know that among the blessings is abundance of wealth, and better than abundance of wealth is health of the body, and better than health of the body is piety of the heart.
He whose deeds do not advance him, his lineage will not push him forward. [In another narration:] He who loses his personal merit, the nobility of his ancestors will not benefit him.
The believer has three hours: an hour in which he communes with his Lord, an hour in which he manages his livelihood, and an hour in which he enjoys lawful and good pleasures. It is not fitting for a wise man to strive except for three things: preparing for life, taking a step for the Hereafter, or enjoying lawful pleasures.
Do not be a seeker of the world; God will show you its ugliness. And do not be unaware, for you are not ignored.
Speak so that you may be known, for a man is hidden under his tongue.
Take from the world what comes to you, and turn away from what turns away from you. If you cannot, then be moderate in seeking.
Many a word is more effective than an attack.
Whatever suffices is enough.
Death but not humiliation; making do with little but not asking others. He who does not get his share with ease will not get it with effort. Time is two days: a day for you and a day against you. On the day for you, do not be arrogant; and on the day against you, be patient.
Musk is a good perfume; carrying it is light and its scent is pleasant.
Abandon your coquetry, remove arrogance from your head, and remember your grave.
The child has a right upon the father, and the father has a right upon the child. The right of the father upon the child is that the child obeys him in everything except in disobeying God Almighty. The right of the child upon the father is that he gives him a good name, teaches him good manners, and teaches him the Quran.
The Evil Eye is real, charms are real, sorcery is real, and good omens are true, but bad omens are not true. Disease is not transmitted (by itself without God's will), scent improves health, honey is a cure, and riding and looking at greenery are cures for illness.
Mixing with people is safety from their harm.
[To someone who spoke words bigger than his status, he said:] You flew before growing feathers and made noise while young.
He who resorts to various tricks, trickery will not avail him.
[He was asked about the meaning of "La hawla wa la quwwata illa billah" (There is no power and no strength except with God). He said:] With God, we have no choice over anything, and we own nothing except what He makes us own. So when He gives us ownership of what He is more entitled to, He imposes duties on us; and when He takes it from us, He removes the duties from us.
[He said to 'Ammar b. Yasir when he heard him arguing with Al-Mughira b. Shu'ba: Leave him, O 'Ammar, for he has taken from religion only what draws him closer to the world, and he has intentionally confused himself to make it an excuse for his errors.
How good is the humility of the rich before the poor seeking what is with God, and better than that is the pride of the poor before the rich relying on God.
God did not deposit reason in anyone except that one day He rescued him by it.
Whoever struggles against the truth is defeated.
What the eye sees settles in the heart.
Piety is the head of all ethics.
Do not speak harshly to him who taught you speech, nor seek eloquence against him who made your speech good.
It suffices for your self-discipline to avoid what you dislike in others.
In calamities, one must be patient like the freeborn, or forget like the foolish.
[In another report, he said to Al-Ash'ath b. Qays consoling him:] Be patient like noble men, otherwise you will forget like beasts.
[Describing the world, he said:] It deceives, harms, and passes. God did not approve it as a reward for His friends, nor as a punishment for His enemies. The people of the world are like a caravan; while they unload, their leader calls them to load and depart.
[He said to his son al-Hasan:] My son, do not leave anything of the world behind! For you will leave it to one of two men: either a man who uses it in obedience to God, so he becomes happy with what you became unhappy with; or a man who uses it in disobedience to God, so he becomes unhappy with what you gathered for him, and you help him in his disobedience. Neither of these two deserves to be preferred over yourself. [This saying is narrated differently:] As for what follows, what is in your hand of the world had owners before you and will go to others after you. You are a gatherer for one of two men: one who uses what you gathered in obedience to God, so he becomes happy with what you became unhappy with; or one who spends it in disobedience to God, so you become unhappy with what you gathered for him. Neither of these two deserves to be preferred over yourself or for you to carry a burden for him. So hope for God's mercy for the one who has gone, and God's provision for the one who remains.
[To someone who said "Astaghfirullah" (I seek forgiveness from God) in his presence, he said:] May your mother weep for you! Do you know what Istighfar is? Istighfar is the degree of the high-ranking (Illiyyin). It is a name standing for six meanings: First, regret over the past; second, determination never to return to it; third, to restore the rights of creatures so that you meet God clean with no sin upon you; fourth, to fulfill every obligation you neglected; fifth, to melt the flesh grown from unlawful earning with grief until the skin sticks to the bone and new flesh grows between them; and sixth, to make the body taste the pain of obedience as you made it taste the sweetness of disobedience. Then you may say "Astaghfirullah".
Forbearance is like a clan (and relatives who gather people to help a person).
Poor son of Adam! His death is hidden, his illness is concealed, his action is recorded. A mosquito hurts him, a choke kills him, and sweat makes him stink.
[It is narrated that he was sitting among his companions when a beautiful woman passed by, and they looked at her. He said:] The eyes of these men are covetous, and this looking is the cause of excitement. If one of you sees a woman who pleases him, let him go to his wife, for she is a woman like her. [A man from the Khawarij said: "May God kill this disbeliever, how much fiqh he knows!" People rose to kill him, but the Imam said:] Calm down! It is a curse for a curse, or forgiveness of the sin.
It suffices from your wisdom that it distinguishes for you the path of your error from the path of your guidance.
Do good deeds and do not consider any of them small, for small of it is great and little of it is much. Let no one of you say "Another person is more worthy of doing good than me," for by God, it might be so. There are people for good and evil; whichever you abandon, its people will perform it.
Whoever reforms his inward self, God reforms his outward self; whoever works for his religion, God suffices his worldly affairs; and whoever corrects what is between him and God, God corrects what is between him and the people.
Forbearance is a covering curtain, and intellect is a sharp sword. So cover the defects of your character with your forbearance, and kill your desire with your intellect.
Indeed, God has servants whom He singles out with blessings for the benefit of His servants. He leaves those blessings in their hands as long as they give them; but when they withhold them, He takes them away and transfers them to others.
It is not fitting for a servant to rely on two qualities: health and wealth. For while you see him healthy, he suddenly becomes sick; and while you see him wealthy, he suddenly becomes poor.
Whoever brings a need to a believer, it is as if he brought his need to God; and whoever brings it to a disbeliever, it is as if he complained about God.
[On one of the Eids, he said:] This is an Eid for him whose fasting God has accepted and whose prayer He has appreciated. Every day in which God is not disobeyed is an Eid.
The greatest regret on the Day of Resurrection is the regret of a man who earned wealth through disobedience to God, then a man inherited it and spent it in obedience to God Almighty. The latter went to Paradise because of it, and the former entered Hell because of it.
The biggest loser in transaction and the most hopeless in effort is a man who wore out his body in seeking wealth but destiny did not help his desire. He left the world with regret and faced the Hereafter with the burden of that wealth.
Sustenance is of two kinds: one that seeks and one that is sought. He who seeks the world, death seeks him until it drives him out of it; and he who seeks the Hereafter, the world seeks him until he receives his provision from it in full.
The friends of God are those who look at the inward aspect of the world when people look at its outward aspect, and attend to its future when people are busy with its present. They kill of the world what they fear would kill them, and leave what they know will soon leave them. They consider the accumulation of others as small and regard their attainment of the world as losing it. They are enemies of what people are at peace with, and at peace with what people are enemies of. The Book (of God) is known through them and they are known through the Book. The Book stands through them and they stand through the Book. They do not see anything greater than what they hope for, nor anything more fearful than what they fear.
Remember that pleasures will end, and their consequences will remain.
Test (the person) and you will hate him. [Some have attributed this to the Prophet (s), but what confirms it is from Amir al-Mu'minin (a) is the narration of Tha'lab from Ibn al-A'rabi that al-Ma'mun said: If Ali (a) had not said "Akhbir taqli" (Test and you will hate), I would have said "Aqlil takhbur" (Interact less and you will know).]
God does not open the door of gratitude for a servant and close the door of increase; nor does He open the door of supplication and close the door of acceptance; nor does He open the door of repentance and close the door of forgiveness.
The most worthy of people for nobility is he through whom noble men are known.
[He was asked: Which is better, justice or generosity? He said:] Justice puts things in their places, while generosity takes them out of their directions. Justice is a general manager, while generosity is a specific benefit. So justice is nobler and more excellent.
People are enemies of what they do not know.
All asceticism is gathered in two sentences of the Quran: God Almighty says, "In order that you not despair over what has eluded you and not exult over what He has given you." Whoever does not grieve over the past and does not rejoice over the future has taken hold of asceticism from both sides.
How many determinations of the day has sleep destroyed!
Governments are the arenas of men.
No city is better for you than another. The best city is the one that bears you (where you have a livelihood).
[When news of the death of Malik al-Ashtar reached him, he said:] Malik! Who was Malik! By God, if he were a mountain, he would be a separated one (unique); if he were a stone, he would be solid flint; no hoof could reach its peak and no bird could fly over it.
A little that lasts is better than a lot that brings boredom.
If you see a strange trait in someone, expect its like (from him) — for his nature will urge him to do the like again.
[To Ghalib b. Sa'sa'a, father of Al-Farazdaq, in a conversation, he said:] What happened to your many camels? [He said: O Amir al-Mu'minin, fulfilling rights (duties) scattered them.] [He said:] This is the best way for them.
Whoever trades without knowing Fiqh falls into usury.
Whoever considers small calamities great, God afflicts him with great calamities.
Whoever honors his soul, his lusts become cheap in his eyes.
No one jokes but that he spits out a part of his intellect.
Your distance from one who desires you is a defect in your share, and your inclination towards one who does not want you is a humiliation of your soul.
Wealth and poverty will be revealed when they are presented before the Creator.
Al-Zubayr was always considered one of us until his inauspicious son 'Abd Allah grew up.
What has the son of Adam to do with vanity? His beginning is a sperm drop and his end is a carcass. He cannot provide his own sustenance nor drive away his death.
[He was asked: Who is the best poet? He said:] Poets have not run in a race that has a limit and a known finish line. But if one must judge, then the Misguided King is the one. (He meant Imru' al-Qays).
Is there no free man who leaves this chewed morsel (the world) to its people? There is no price for your souls except Paradise, so do not sell them for anything else.
Two greedy persons are never satisfied: the seeker of knowledge and the seeker of wealth.
Faith is that you prefer truth where it harms you over falsehood where it benefits you; that your words do not exceed your deeds; and that you fear God when speaking about others.
Destiny overcomes calculation until planning becomes a bane.
Forbearance and deliberation are twins, and they are produced by high ambition.
Backbiting is the weapon of the weak.
Many a person is infatuated by being praised.
The world was created for other than itself, not for itself.
Banu Umayya have a respite in which they gallop; though they differ among themselves, eventually the hyenas will devour them and overcome them.
[Praising the Ansar, he said:] By God, they nurtured Islam as a weaned foal is nurtured, with their wealth, generous hands, and sharp tongues.
The eye is the strap of the rear; when sleep comes (to the eye), the knot opens.
[And he said:] A ruler took charge of them who established the affair and remained steadfast until the religion became stable.
A difficult time will come upon people when the wealthy will tightly hold what is in their hands, though they have not been commanded to do so. God Almighty says: "Do not forget generosity among yourselves." In that time, the wicked will be honored and the good will be humiliated, and purchases will be made from the desperate; while the Messenger of God (s) forbade transactions with the desperate.
Two types of people are ruined concerning me: the friend who goes to extremes and the fabricator who says what is not in me. [This is like his saying: Two types of people perish concerning me: the exaggerated lover and the debunking hater.]
[He was asked about Tawhid and Justice. He said:] Tawhid is not to imagine Him, and Justice is not to accuse Him.
Silence is not good where speech is required, nor is speech good where ignorance prevails.
[In a supplication for rain:] O God, water us with tame, obedient clouds, not wild, unmanageable ones.
[He was asked: O Amir al-Mu'minin, why didn't you dye your grey hair? He said:] Dyeing is an adornment, and we are in mourning. [He meant mourning for the death of the Messenger of God (s).]
The reward of the Mujahid martyred in the way of God is not greater than the chaste person who is able to sin but refrains. It is as if the chaste person is an angel among angels.
Contentment is a wealth that does not end.^[20]
[When he appointed Ziyad b. Abih over Fars and its dependencies in place of 'Abd Allah b. 'Abbas, he said in a long speech forbidding him from taking Kharaj (land tax) in advance:] Act with justice and avoid violence and injustice, for violence leads to displacement and injustice calls for the sword.
The gravest sin is the one the sinner considers light.
God did not impose on the ignorant to learn until He imposed on the learned to teach.
The worst brother is he for whom you have to put yourself to trouble.^[21]
When a believer angers his brother, he separates from him.

Words Needing Interpretation

This chapter addresses specific words of his that appear strange or complex and require interpretation:^[22]

When this happens, the Ya'sub (leader) of religion will rise with his followers, then they will gather around him like autumn clouds. [Ya'sub is the great leader whom people depend on, and Qaza' are pieces of cloud that have no rain.]
This orator is Shahshah. [Meaning he is eloquent in speech and capable in continuing it. Anyone who is capable in speech or persistent in walking is Shahshah. Otherwise, Shahshah means a miserly person.]
Enmity possesses Quhma (destructive precipices). [From Quhma, meaning places of destruction, because it destroys most of those who enter it. From this meaning is "Quhmat al-A'rab", which is when drought encompasses them and destroys their wealth. Another meaning is that the dryness of the desert forces them to enter the cities.]
When women reach Nass al-Hiqaq, paternal relatives are more entitled to them. [Nass is the limit of something and reaching its end, like "Nass in walking" which is the maximum speed a beast can reach. Nass al-Hiqaq is reaching puberty, which is the end of childhood. This is one of the most eloquent allusions to this stage. When women reach this stage, paternal relatives are closer to them than maternal ones if they are Mahram like brothers and uncles, regarding marriage. Hiqaq is the dispute of the mother with paternal relatives over the daughter. It is also said Nass al-Hiqaq is the perfection of intellect. My opinion is that it refers to reaching the age of marriage capability. This is a metaphor from Hiqaq in camels, which is when a camel completes three years and enters the fourth, becoming fit for riding.]
Faith appears as a Lumza (white spot) in the heart; as faith increases, the spot increases. [Lumza is like a spot of blackness or whiteness; from this is "Faras Almaz" when there is a spot of whiteness on a horse's lip.]
If a person gives a loan that is Zunun (he doesn't know if he will get it back), he must pay its Zakat for the past years once he receives it. [Zunun is a debt that the creditor does not know if he will receive or not. It is as if he has a conjecture (Zann) about it. This is extremely eloquent. Anything you seek and don't know if you will reach is Zunun.]
[In a Hadith, when he saw off an army he was sending to war, he said:] Keep yourselves away from women as much as you can ('Idhab). [Meaning do not remember women and do not occupy your hearts with them, for that weakens the arm of zeal. Anything that prevents from something is 'Idhab. 'Adhib and 'Udhub mean abstaining from eating and drinking.]
Like the winning gambler (Falij) who expects victory with his first arrow (Qidh). [Yasirun are those who cast arrows in gambling on camel meat. Falij is the winner. The poet said: "When I saw a Falij who won."]
When the battle became fierce (Ihmarr al-Ba's), we shielded ourselves with the Messenger of God (s), so no one was closer to the enemy than him. [Meaning when fear of the enemy intensified. They sought refuge in the Prophet (s) and asked him to engage in the battle himself. At this time, through the blessing of the Prophet, God sent victory. "Ihmarr al-Ba's" (The battle turned red) is a metaphor from the intensity of the battle. The Imam likened the heat of the battle to the heat of fire which combines heat and redness. This is supported by the Prophet's saying on the day of Hunayn: "Hamiya al-Watis" (The oven became hot).]

Notes

↑ Sharif al-Radi, Nahj al-balagha (li-l-Subhi Salih), 1414 AH, pp. 469-559.
↑ Sayyid Radi, Nahj al-balagha, 1414 AH, p. 469.
↑ Sharif al-Radi, Nahj al-balagha (li-l-Subhi Salih), 1414 AH, p. 515.
↑ Sharif al-Radi, Nahj al-balagha (li-l-Subhi Salih), 1414 AH, hadiths 258-266, pp. 517-520.
↑ Ahlolbait.com, "Yanzuru bi-shahm...".
↑ Nahj al-balagha, tarjuma-yi Shahidi, p. 537, ta'liqa-yi 5.
↑ Yaddasht-i Sayyid Radi: "Wa hadha min al-ma'ani al-'ajiba al-sharifa..."
↑ Yaddasht-i Sayyid Radi: "Aqulu sadaqa 'Alih al-Salam..."
↑ Nahj al-Balagha, tarjuma-yi Ayati.
↑ Yaddasht-i Sayyid Radi: "Wa hadhihi al-kalima..."
↑ Makarim Shirazi, Nahj al-Balagha ba tarjume-ye ravan, p. 751.
↑ Yaddasht-i Sayyid Radi: "Aqulu wa qad ruwiya..."
↑ Nahj al-balagha, tarjuma-yi Shahidi.
↑ Nahj al-balagha, tarjuma-yi Makarim Shirazi.
↑ Yaddasht-i Sayyid Radi: "Wa ma'nahu anna ma yunfiquhu..."
↑ Yaddasht-i Sayyid Radi: "Wa qad dhakarna..."
↑ Nahj al-balagha, tarjuma-yi Shahidi, p. 545, ta'liqa-yi 138.
↑ Nahj al-balagha, tarjuma-yi Shahidi, p. 545, ta'liqa-yi 139.
↑ Ta'liqa-yi Shahidi.
↑ Yaddasht-i Sayyid Radi: "Ba'd al-nas yarwi..."
↑ Yaddasht-i Sayyid Radi: "Li'anna al-taklif..."
↑ This section appears in Nahj al-Balagha between sayings 260 and 261, but is placed here to maintain numbering order.

References

Ahlolbait.com, "Yanzuru bi-shahm... wa yatakallamu bi-lahm... wa yasma'u bi-'azm...", Accessed: March 15, 2025.
Makarim Shirazi, Nasir, Nahj al-balagha ba tarjume-ye ravan, Qom, Imam Ali b. Abi Talib (a), 1384 Sh.
Nahj al-balagha, tarjuma-yi 'Abd al-Muhammad Ayati, Tehran, Daftar-i Nashr-i Farhang-i Islami, 1378 Sh.
Nahj al-balagha, tarjuma-yi Nasir Makarim Shirazi, Qom, Imam Ali b. Abi Talib (a), 1384 Sh.
Nahj al-balagha, tarjuma-yi Sayyid Ja'far Shahidi, Tehran, 'Ilmi wa Farhangi, 1377 Sh.
Sayyid Radi, Nahj al-balagha, 1414 AH.
Sharif al-Radi, Muhammad b. Husayn, Nahj al-balagha (li-l-Subhi Salih), Qom, Nashr-i Hijrat, 1st ed., 1414 AH.

Template:Nahj al-Balagha Template:Imam Ali (a)

[1] Sharif al-Radi, Nahj al-balagha (li-l-Subhi Salih), 1414 AH, pp. 469-559.

[2] Sayyid Radi, Nahj al-balagha, 1414 AH, p. 469.

[3] Sharif al-Radi, Nahj al-balagha (li-l-Subhi Salih), 1414 AH, p. 515.

[4] Sharif al-Radi, Nahj al-balagha (li-l-Subhi Salih), 1414 AH, hadiths 258-266, pp. 517-520.

[5] Ahlolbait.com, "Yanzuru bi-shahm...".

[6] Nahj al-balagha, tarjuma-yi Shahidi, p. 537, ta'liqa-yi 5.

[7] Yaddasht-i Sayyid Radi: "Wa hadha min al-ma'ani al-'ajiba al-sharifa..."

[8] Yaddasht-i Sayyid Radi: "Aqulu sadaqa 'Alih al-Salam..."

[9] Nahj al-Balagha, tarjuma-yi Ayati.

[10] Yaddasht-i Sayyid Radi: "Wa hadhihi al-kalima..."

[11] Makarim Shirazi, Nahj al-Balagha ba tarjume-ye ravan, p. 751.

[12] Yaddasht-i Sayyid Radi: "Aqulu wa qad ruwiya..."

[13] Nahj al-balagha, tarjuma-yi Shahidi.

[14] Nahj al-balagha, tarjuma-yi Makarim Shirazi.

[15] Yaddasht-i Sayyid Radi: "Wa ma'nahu anna ma yunfiquhu..."

[16] Yaddasht-i Sayyid Radi: "Wa qad dhakarna..."

[17] Nahj al-balagha, tarjuma-yi Shahidi, p. 545, ta'liqa-yi 138.

[18] Nahj al-balagha, tarjuma-yi Shahidi, p. 545, ta'liqa-yi 139.

[19] Ta'liqa-yi Shahidi.

[20] Yaddasht-i Sayyid Radi: "Ba'd al-nas yarwi..."

[21] Yaddasht-i Sayyid Radi: "Li'anna al-taklif..."

[22] This section appears in Nahj al-Balagha between sayings 260 and 261, but is placed here to maintain numbering order.

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Sayings

Words Needing Interpretation

See Also

Notes

References